Failure to discipline judge for racial slur is 'a hideous commentary,' complaining lawyer says
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A judge accused of using a racial slur to refer to Hispanic defendants in his courtroom won’t be sanctioned as a result of a decision by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct.
At the time Judge Allen Amos allegedly used the slur, he was overseeing cases of immigrants arrested on state-law charges in a crackdown on illegal border crossings, the Houston Chronicle reports. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had initiated the crackdown, dubbed Operation Lone Star.
The defense lawyer who filed the complaint, Emily Miller, told the Houston Chronicle she was stunned by the decision. The commission had concluded that Amos’ use of the term “wetbacks” was not necessarily appropriate but not punishable, the article reports.
“It’s 2023, not 1953,” Miller told the Houston Chronicle. “If using a racial slur against a litigant is not sanctionable, then I don’t really know what is.”
Miller called the decision a “hideous commentary on this judge, on the commission, and the fact that he was ever allowed to serve” on a panel hearing cases stemming from the crackdown.
Miller said Amos had used the term during a casual conversation in court. Amos allegedly said the defendants in his court were not “your regular wetbacks.” He added that the defendants had phones and clothes, according to Miller’s complaint.
Miller took the comment to mean Amos believed the defendants weren’t actually poor. Miller says the reality is that some of her clients spent their life savings to come to the United States.
Miller transferred her Operation Lone Star cases to a different judge after filing the complaint. Amos no longer hears cases from the crackdown, although the reason isn’t clear.
Miller plans to ask the commission to reconsider its decision. The Houston Chronicle story notes that a different judge who used the same term received an admonishment in December 2020.
Amos did not respond to the Houston Chronicle’s request for comment.
